Red Rambler

Awesome job Shane, do you ever coat the barrels of the wheel?

@pirahnah3 was nice enough to let us do some work on his new Challenger after the clinic we hosted. So while the car is in, one request was that we ceramic coat his wheels. In the past, I’ve mentioned that we spray our wheel coatings as opposed to hand application. A few people were curious about how we do it...so here it is finally!
 
The first things I’ll get into are the reasons why we spray our wheel coatings versus hand application. By spraying a coating, we are able to get a more complete coverage and apply our coatings quicker. This comes at a trade off of more material used. For us where our time in a job matters, it’s a simple decision. 
 
First, here’s the wheels on the car. We have the luxury of a lift so we can pull all four wheels at once. 

 
Once the wheels are off, we spray them down with wheel cleaner. We still use the old bottle that we’ve filled a million times. It’s the new formula in it though. 
 
Once they’re rinsed and cleaned to our satisfaction, we spray them with Tire & Rubber Cleaner and scrub with the tire brush. 
 
Once this process is done, we actually steam clean the wheels and calipers to get everything from all the little sticky spots.
 
The supplies to do the job...gloves, a mask, an airbrush, coating, a suede towel and a microfiber towel. I can’t stress the importance of gloves and a mask enough. You’re aerosolizing a liquid that turns to crystal form. Don’t take chances inhaling it.
 
We use a Harbor Freight airbrush. It’s $10
and if we trash one, we don’t care really. We always clean it out with paint thinner when we are done.  

 
Load up your bottle with some ceramic coating, test to make sure you’re happy with the spray pattern and you’re ready to go. 

 
Spray evenly. If you spray a little heavy it’s not a big deal since you’ll buff off later. Let the coating cure for the required time based on the coating used and then buff it off with the suede towel. 

 
The suede will remove the majority of the coating. Give it a final buff with the microfiber towel. 

 
Repeat the process for the barrels of the wheel. Make sure you didn’t overspray to the front. So give a final buff with both towels one more time and let the wheels cure for a bit before reinstalling.
 
Next we steamed the calipers and cleaned them with Eco APC. 


 
Once they were cleaned up to our satisfaction, we reloaded our airbrush and sprayed the calipers. Overspray isn’t a big issue. 

 
Buff it off with the suede and follow with the microfiber. 

 
Allow the wheels to cure. And then mount them up and apply tire dressing of your choice. 

 
Toss your suede in the garbage and wash your microfiber immediately (the ceramic it picks up is negligible if you buff correctly). 
 
You can use this technique with trim coating and grills if you’re careful in doing so and spray evenly. Runs are harder to take care of in a grill. 
 
Thanks for reading!
 

Love it long time lol! It really is a great machine.

I have this exact Ryobi pressure washer in question, works well and I have quick connects at the pump and both ends of the hose. Its a quick setup. I concur @SVillalon that if you are looking for shaving cream consistency than do as has been suggested. It honestly works well for what it is, its light weight and easy to setup. I have a higher PSI gas unit, but its not as quick to move/setup so this is a happy medium.

Washed, paint corrected and patriot waxed.

We hosted our first ever detail clinic today. We had a smaller turnout of seven or eight which actually seemed to be the perfect number.
 
I didn’t take as many photos as I thought I would since we were so engaged in conversation, demonstration and practice.
 
Everyone got a lot of tool time and collectively accomplished a full interior and exterior detail.  The guys all did a fantastic job considering some had never even held a polisher before. 
 
Since peoole brought their A-game with cars, everything was pretty clean to start with. Even still people were pleased with the results of their efforts and saw changes happening as we worked. 
 
All in all, a great day with some new friendships made. It was great seeing everyone chat about cars and life. We also now have some faces to go with the names here!  
 
Thanks to everyone who came and supported the clinic and thanks to Bianca for setting us up with a sweet raffle prize. 
 
Not a bad finish on this ‘Vette for a group of guys with mixed experience detailing!!!  Strong work!  
 
Thank you again!
 

Hey guys,
 
Anyone who follows any of my posts here knows that I'm a big fan of cleaning with steam.  It's one of my "go to" answers when people have a question about how to clean something.  We use steam a lot because it's safe, allows us to reduce the amount of product we use and because it's effective.
 
We had a Nissan 350Z in this week that had a nasty gas cap.  I decided I was going to video the steaming of the area for demonstration purposes.  You'll see we didn't wipe it until the end.  Our steamer allows us to inject some product right through the steamer.  So we use Eco APC diluted with water.  The steamer kind of allows it to foam up a bit as you'll see.  We still had to do some wiping in the end, but it mobilized a good amount of the contamination inside the filler area as you'll see.
 
The steamer we use is a professional grade steamer.  It runs at a slightly higher pressure (135psi) than most home models.  We used to use the McColluch MC1385 which is a great steamer for weekend warrior use and even light professional.  The downside is that you can't fill it once it's hot.  The plus side, you can have one in your hands for under $200.  Once you start cleaning with steam, you'll see why more and more people are using it.  In fact, if I were ever to have someone else do detail work on my car one of my questions would be if they have a steamer.
 
There's zero editing in the video.  It's straight real time, no cool soundtrack over it.  Just some straight steaming...Sorry if the video is a little boring and repetitive at times.  I just let the camera roll until I was happy with the finished product.
 
Hopefully this works... 
 

Wow! That nova has the lines and has the reflection, highly impressed but will admit I expected nothing less ?

The revive and sponge are gone. 

I wanted to do a short write up on my first experience with the Adams Ceramic Paint Coating kit.  My wife purchased the Ceramic Paint Coating kit for me for Christmas, and since we were living in Pennsylvania at the time, I decided I would wait until the spring to test it out.  As luck would have it, we have recently relocated to Florida, so even though it is still spring, I was able to get out and test it this past weekend.  Much like some of my other posts on here, I will let you know up front that I've used Adams products for well over 10 years now, and my cars in the opinion of most people (family, friends, co-workers, etc.) are never "dirty" in their opinion to begin with.  That being said, I was able to do a full detail on my 2016 Dodge Dart this weekend (I've got some other cars I want to use this stuff on, but figured I'd test it on the dart first.)
 
Car Info
 
Year:  2016
Make:  Dodge
Model:  Dart
Sub Model:  SXT Rallye, 2.0 liter 6 speed
 
Adams Products Used:
Adams Strip Wash
Adams Total Interior Detailer (dash, door panels, console, etc.)
Adams Leather Conditioner (dash, steering wheel, door panels, leather boot around shifter)
Adams Invisible Under Carriage Spray
Adams Tire Shine 
Adams VRT (rear diffuser, splash guards, engine compartment)
Adams In and Out Spray (grille, engine compartment, cowl area by windshield wipers)
Adams Visco Clay Bar
Adams Swirl Killer 15 MM
Adams Orange 5.5 inch foam pad
Adams Microfiber 5.5 inch cutting pad
Adams Brilliant Glaze
Adams Detail Spray
Adams Ceramic Paint Coating Kit (Ceramic Prep, Ceramic Coating, Ceramic Boost)
Adams Glass Cleaner
Adams Glass Sealant
Adams Tire and Rubber Cleaner
Adams Wheel Brush
Adams Wheel Woolie
Adams Tire Brush
Adams Wheel Cleaner
Adams All Purpose Cleaner
Adams Metal Polish #1
Adams Metal Polish #2
Adams Paint Correcting Polish (Orange)
Quite a few microfiber towels and applicator pads
 
 
Process:
Just a quick run through of the steps in the order I performed them.
 
Thursday (4/19)
 
Cleaned interior with Adams Total Interior Detailer, Adams Leather Conditioner, a vacuum, and Brilliant Glaze on the inside of all of the glass.  I also applied detail spray to the touch screen and sun-visor mirrors, as well as the gauge cluster. Pulled the floor mats out and sprayed them with All Purpose cleaner, scrubbed them with a tire brush and hosed them off Sprayed a wheel and brake caliper / brake rotor with Adams Wheel cleaner, while that was soaking, sprayed all purpose cleaner on the tire and wheel well.  Scrubbed tire and wheel well with Adams Tire brush, and then after the wheel cleaner started turning from blue to purple I scrubbed the wheel with the Adams wheel brush, then hosed the wheel well, tire, and wheel in that order.  (I did one wheel, wheel well, and tire at a time) Washed car using two bucket wash method and Adams Strip wash, following the directions, I DID NOT use detail spray or any other drying agent to dry the car off, I just wiped it down with one of the drying towels. Moved car into garage  
Friday (4/20)
 
Jacked up the car and sprayed Adams Invisible under carriage spray into the wheel wells, and sprayed Adams Tire shine onto a black hex grip applicator pad and worked it into the tires.  After approximately 20 - 30 minutes, I wiped any areas in the wheel wells with a utility towel to avoid any streaks in the under carriage spray. Treated all trim / rubber seals (weather stripping) with VRT. Treated engine compartment with VRT and In & Out Spray (engine compartment wasn't very dirty to begin with so rinsing with All purpose cleaner was not necessary) Sprayed grill and cowl area with In & Out spray. I cleaned the exhaust tip with Adams Metal Polish #1 and #2. Took a clay bar all painted areas on the car, and the windshield.  (The car really did not need to be clayed but figured I would take all necessary steps since the coating was going to be applied).   Applied Adams Glass Sealant to the windshield. Ran the Swirl Killer over the entire car using the Orange foam pad and the microfiber cutting pad as well as some of the Orange correcting polish.  Again the car really did not need a thorough polishing, there was one area on the trunk lid that had a few minor scratches from some snow removal this past winter, I did not feel the need to use the white polish / pad to polish the car.  
Saturday (4/21)
 
Starting with the roof I applied the Adams Ceramic Coating Prep.  Once I finished the roof, I gave it a few minutes to finish drying, and then it only made sense to me to prep one area, and then apply the coating instead of prepping the entire car and giving it a chance to get dusty / dirty since I was doing this with the garage door up all day.  Anyways, after applying the prep and giving it a chance to dry, I applied the Ceramic Coating.  I watched the video a few times on the website and applied it to 1/4 of the roof (the section from the middle of the roof to the to the back glass to the sunroof.  I then did an "L - Shaped" section of the roof from beside the sunroof to the front of the sunroof (between the front edge of the sunroof and the windshield).  I then moved on to the tops of the doors, the trunk lid, and so on.  Again, I would prep whatever area I was working on, wait a few minutes, and then apply the coating, this method seemed to work well for me, until I finished the entire car (roughly 6 hours stopping for lunch / water / going to the bathroom)  
Sunday (4/22)
 
Around 6 PM (roughly 26 hours later) I pulled the car out of the garage to look it over and then I applied the ceramic boost, again starting with the top of the car and working my way down.  I did not see any spots that required re-application.   I applied Brilliant glaze to the outside glass I applied tire shine one last time I took the floor mats and sprayed them with Tire and Rubber cleaner, scrubbed them with the Adams Tire Brush and then hosed them off and set them aside to air dry.  
 
Lessons Learned / Helpful tips
 
First of all, I will say that I was a little bit intimidated by trying to take this on, normally I have a second set of eyes to at least look things over with me when I detail a car (wax, polish, etc.) but with my wife and I still being in the middle of moving, she was not here.  The other problem was that the lighting in our current garage is less than ideal, literally one LED light bulb, hence the reason for doing this with the garage door up, not to mention the heat / humidity of Florida, however, it wasn't that bad this weekend.  
 
I agree with the video that the more time you spend on the prep work, the better the results.  At times I felt like I was moving pretty slowly when it came to claying the car, or polishing the car, but just kept telling myself that the prep work was key.  I'm also not very good at visualizing things sometimes, so when the video for the ceramic coating referred to doing a 2 ft. X 2 ft. section I grabbed the tape measure and would often hold it up to the body panel and measure just to give myself some sort of reference in my head to say (okay, I can do this section of the door, or this section of the hood, etc.)  I would definitely recommend not trying to push it and do anything larger than 2 feet by 2 feet, as the coating starts to "rainbow" within 30 seconds and is noticeably more difficult to remove (not impossible, just takes a little more elbow grease).  I also laid out some additional Single, Double, and Triple soft microfiber towels ahead of time for help in applying the coating prep, and kept a bottle of Brilliant glaze handy (although I did not need to use it) to help with wiping off the coating (at the recommendation of the back of the bottle).  I'd also say be incredibly thorough in wiping off the coating, I made pass after pass after pass it seemed with the single soft towel working from a few different angles to make sure that I got all of the coating wiped off after it had "rainbowed", this definitely added to the time I spent, but I feel it was well worth it.  
 
All in all, I feel the car came out well, unfortunately, it is hard to tell exactly how much of the coating you have used because the bottle is dark, so you have to go by weight / feel, but I would guess that I used somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2 (definitely feels like less than 1/2) of the bottle to do my dart.
 
What questions do you have?  Let me know your thoughts, and enjoy the pics!  Hopefully this will help with anyone who is on the fence about trying this.  I have not had it out in the rain or anything yet to see how the water beads up or falls off of the car, or the longevity, but if this stuff works even half as well as advertised I will be very happy! 
 
Thanks for reading!!
 
P.S.  Sorry I don't have any before pics, I was so pumped to try this stuff out that I didn't take the time to take them :(
 
-Kory
 

2 bucket wash and H2O g&g!

A harder coating isn’t as flexible. That being said, 9H is somewhat of the industry standard for paint coatings. The harder layer offers increased scratch resistance, but not impossible to damage (regardless of what some videos show). 
 
Commonly on the harder coatings they are all topped with other products...sometimes a spray, sometimes another form of coating.
 
Coatings are not inherently difficult to work with, they’re simply less forgiving to errors and require more attention to detail in the prep process since everything about the prep becomes part of the semi permanent final product. 
 
Maybe sometime soon I’ll do a write up on our entire process that we use regardless of the coating we are installing?

I don’t think you need to increase hand speed or heavy buffing when removing the coating.  Once the coating starts to rainbow just wipe it off, if the coating spreads just keep wiping till it’s gone.  Don’t need to apply any force.  And go with the said instructions above with changing applicators and towels between panels and take your time, if it take 6 hours then it takes that long.  Have fun with the coating. 

Lol you gotta try it out, leaves a beautiful streak on the glass it’s the new trend.  Tire shine on the tires and glass cleaner, glass sealent, and glass boost for the windows. 

This is an eggcellent idea, I have looked quite a few places. I was thinking, egg, which led me to food, which led me to the food thread, which in turn made me have to take a break and eat due to hunger.

This is an eggcellent idea, I have looked quite a few places. I was thinking, egg, which led me to food, which led me to the food thread, which in turn made me have to take a break and eat due to hunger.

Thanks, thought it could be fun. Ironically enough, the Food Thread started out of a dicussion between the OP @ocdrifter and me. He referenced it in the first posting. 
 
 
Good guess...and good eye. But I think  that's actually a yard flag from the lawn company that does work in our neighborhood.

I have not a clue how you saw the yellow egg in the bushes 

This is an eggcellent idea, I have looked quite a few places. I was thinking, egg, which led me to food, which led me to the food thread, which in turn made me have to take a break and eat due to hunger.

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!!! Good eye, Trevor. I'll PM you.
 

 
Post found here: 
 
And now to post the details...link forthcoming.
 

Great job! I was literally looking for an egg lol 

Great job! I was literally looking for an egg lol 

Great job! I was literally looking for an egg lol 

This is an eggcellent idea, I have looked quite a few places. I was thinking, egg, which led me to food, which led me to the food thread, which in turn made me have to take a break and eat due to hunger.

This is an eggcellent idea, I have looked quite a few places. I was thinking, egg, which led me to food, which led me to the food thread, which in turn made me have to take a break and eat due to hunger.